CHIE USHIO

I’m Chie Ushio, a Japanese-born painter living just outside New York City in Leonia, New Jersey. My work is a collision of the personal and political—stories told through acrylic on canvas that wrestle with identity, grief, injustice, and the quiet rage of being human in a broken system.

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I was trained in oil painting in Tokyo and later studied film and design before spending years in New York as a book designer at Penguin Random House.  But painting was always calling me back. It became the language I needed when words fell short—a way to process the violence of daily headlines, the weight of memory, and the beauty that still manages to survive all of it.

 

My pieces often reflect lived experience through symbolic portraiture—whether it’s the harsh truth behind the U.S. healthcare system, the silent sorrow of Gaza, or the resilience of a woman rebuilding her life. I paint what I feel, what I fear, and what I hope will change.

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At the core of my work is a desire to connect—to stir emotion, spark reflection, and maybe even piss people off enough to care. I’m not interested in art that plays it safe. I want to make you look twice. I want to haunt you a little.

This is how I fight.

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CONTACT: chieushio@gmail.com